6 December 2005 - CRINMAIL 736
Special Edition on World AIDS Day
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- FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION: Conference of African Parliamentarians [event]
- PUERTO RICO: Children - Invisible Citizens of an Invisible Country [news]
- PERU: Petition Succeeds in Putting Children First in the Public Budget [news]
- UNITED KINGDOM: Government child poverty target will miss the poorest children [publication]
- SCOTLAND: Children's Commissioner Consultation Paper [call for participation]
- INTERNATIONAL DAY AGAINST SLAVERY: Annan Calls for 'zero tolerance' [news]
- WEBSITE OF THE WEEK (erratum): Military Training for Officers on Children in Armed Conflict [resource]
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Your submissions are welcome if you are working in the area of child rights. To contribute, email us at [email protected]. Adobe Acrobat is required for viewing some of the documents, and if required can be downloaded from http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html If you do not receive this email in html format, you will not be able to see some hyperlinks in the text. At the end of each item we have therefore provided a full URL linking to a web page where further information is available.
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- FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION: Conference of African Parliamentarians [event]
[DAKAR, 4 December 2005] - Parliamentarians from across Africa have convened in Dakar, Senegal for a conference to learn about female genital mutilation (FGM) and discuss what they can do to help end the dangerous and violent practice.
The organisers of the conference - the National Assembly of Senegal and the African Parliamentary Union (APU), in co-operation with the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and UNICEF - said national parliaments in Africa have a particularly crucial role to play in the fight against FGM/C and that greater collective action among them should be a common and urgent priority.
According to a report just released by the UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre, more than 3 million girls in sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East are subjected to genital mutilation and cutting every year. FGM is a violation of their fundamental human rights and affects far more girls and women than was previously known.
But while progress towards abandoning the practice has been painfully slow, experts are optimistic that, with adequate support from a broad range of partners, including national parliaments, FGM can be eliminated within a single generation.
More than 20 parliamentarians from 100 countries have attended the regional conference entitled "Violence against women, abandoning female genital mutilation: The role of parliaments". The two-day event provided parliamentarians with an opportunity to exchange views and experiences and to better understand the role they should play in ending FGM. They also interacted with other key stakeholders including religious and traditional leaders, representatives of the media and non-governmental organisations, community leaders, legal experts and others.
Presentations, discussions and debates focused on the specific actions by parliaments at the community, national and international levels that are needed most urgently and that will have the greatest impact. The conference is expected to adopt a final Declaration that will be the basis for follow-up action with African national parliaments, the international community and others in the months ahead.
For more information, visit:
http://www.crin.org/violence/search/closeup.asp?infoID=6736
To read the UNICEF Innocenti report "Changing a Harmful Social Convention: Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting", go to: http://www.crin.org/violence/search/closeup.asp?infoID=6737
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- PUERTO RICO: Children - Invisible Citizens of an Invisible Country [news]
Speaking at the Second World Congress on Children and Young People's Rights in Lima, Peru, which took place last month, Jaime Conde, a law scholar in child and family law, exposed the bleak realities of being young in Puerto Rico. He commented that the country's colonial status prevents its people from enjoying their full rights as US or world citizens. The implications for children and young people's rights have been damaging and far-reaching.
As a result of the Puerto Rican government's complete subordination to the legislature of the United States, which has chosen not to ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the Caribbean country is unable to ratify the CRC as a political entity in its own right. It must be noted that Puerto Rico lacks effective representation in the US Congress: its only delegate in the legislature has a voice, but no vote, and Puerto Ricans do not have the right to vote for the US President.
The Puerto Rican national government's own policies for children and young people are inadequate and are based on protection, not rights. Unable to enjoy their basic rights as citizens, many young people live in situations of extreme poverty and social exclusion. This has led to some of the highest rates of teenage motherhood and of drug-related murders among males. Murder has been the first cause of death among young men between 15 and 19 years old for more than a decade, according to Panamerican Health Organisation statistics. Between 1999 and 2002, almost one in two deaths for this group was a result of murder. Puerto Rico has the second highest murder rate among young people in the world after Colombia.
The invisibility of children and young people in Puerto Rico is made plain by the fact that no international NGO operates there and no US NGO covers Puerto Rico in its national programmes. For example, Save the Children US works in some of the poorest communities in the United States but not in Puerto Rico. This is in spite of the fact that the percentage of children who live below the poverty line in the island - 58.4 per cent - is more than twice that of the poorest state in the US, Mississippi, which is 27 per cent. The rate of children living below the poverty line in Puerto Rico is more than three times greater than the national rate of the United States which is 16.6 per cent.
Conde concluded by urging that international civil society sit up and take notice of the realities that face Puerto Rico's young people. In the light of its failure to ratify the CRC, it will not be through the United States that young Puerto Ricans will make their voices heard. The government of Puerto Rico must take measures to include its socially marginalised citizens. The fact that this country is legally prevented from ratifying the CRC does not prevent it from implementing its principles through its local legislation.
For more information, contact:
Jaime E. Conde, Defensores PROCDN
PO Box 9020946, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00902-0946
Tel: + 1 787 724 1377; Fax: + 1 787 721 0022
Email: [email protected]
To read the full paper in Spanish, visit:
http://www.crin.org/resources/infodetail.asp?ID=6672&flag='news'
For more information about the Congress, visit CRIN's special news page at:
http://www.crin.org/congress05/index.asp
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- PERU: Petition Succeeds in Putting Children First in the Public Budget [news]
[29 November 2005] - On Friday the 25th November, Peruvian NGO members of the World Campaign for Education welcomed the news that the budget for education and associated programmes for childhood and adolescence will receive an increase in resources and funding for the year 2006. This was achieved following intense lobbying of the authorities.
Dozens of the most high-profile personalities from the worlds of Peruvian literature, history, science, journalism and the arts signed up to a public petition stating that the Peruvian State could no longer continue to deny the right of Peruvian children to education; that it could no longer allow more than 3,4 million children to finish school unable to read and write and more than 1,5 million adolescents to leave secondary school illiterate and without understanding the four basic arithmetic operations.
Furthermore, the education system is unprepared to face the reality of more than 1,5 million children who both study and work, nor can it attract nor keep in education more than half a million rural girls excluded from school. In addition, the Peruvian State has so far been unsuccessful in turning around the huge disadvantages in health, nutrition and protection suffered by millions of school-age children.
The Law of the Public Budget and Fiscal Balance approved by the Republican Congress on 25th November forms a milestone with regard to the budget for childhood and adolescence, since at least 30 per cent of the additional funds received by the state in 2006 (income is predicted to be greater than 2005), will be invested in child-related schemes, including education, health, early intervention and programmes prioritising the poorest rural areas of the country. It has also been agreed that Regional Governments will respect the budget guidelines regarding childhood and adolescence.
The World Campaign for Education's next challenge is to ensure that the Minister for Education incorporates the recently approved budget into the existing one, and that the highest political authorities, to be chosen through the electoral process next year, are familiar with and indeed apply, the recent developments.
For more information, contact:
Teresa Carpio, Co-ordinator
Save the Children UK Peru Programme
Calle Trípoli 345, Miraflores, Lima, Perú
Tel: + 51 1 2429215; Fax: + 51 1 4452744
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.savethechildren.org.pe
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- UNITED KINGDOM: Government child poverty target will miss the poorest children [publication]
In a new report, "Britain's Poorest Children Revisited", Save the Children UK calls on the Government to adopt a strategy to address severe and persistent child poverty, on the day that the Chancellor Gordon Brown presents his pre-budget report. The Government has celebrated its achievements in delivering a general decline in child poverty. However, current policies appear to have made little impact on children most in need.
Save the Children's previous report in 2003 "Britain's Poorest Children", found that up to a million children were living in severe and long-term poverty. The new update shows there has been little or no improvement in the percentage of children living in severe poverty in England, Scotland and Wales. This means a family of two adults and two children living on about £132 a week. Until the Government adopts a strategy for the poorest, it will fail to meet its target of ending child poverty by 2020.
Save the Children Chief Executive Jasmine Whitbread said, "People find it difficult to accept there is poverty in Britain. But the reality is 1 in 10 children are experiencing severe poverty - that means going without a winter coat, a pair of shoes or a hot meal and with little hope of doing well at school. Such inequality spells bad news for our whole society. Without delay the Government must adopt a plan that recognises the needs of all children living in poverty, to ensure that the very poorest don't slip through the net. Until the Government measures severe poverty it cannot target its policies to those most in need."
The report found that groups most at risk of poverty were: families with young children; 16-19 year olds leaving the family home; large families; and families experiencing transitions into and out of work. The poorest families are unable to afford the necessities that most families take for granted. They are less likely to afford new clothes, replace worn out furniture, and eat meat or fish every other day. The poorest families find it very difficult to save more than £8 a month. Two-thirds of children in long-term poverty had parents who were unable to save anything in a year.
Save the Children is calling on the Government to urgently adopt a strategy to address the needs of the poorest children.
For more information, contact:
Save the Children UK
1 St John's Lane, London, EC1M 4AR, UK
Tel: + 44 20 7012 6400; Fax: + 44 20 7012 6963
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.savethechildren.org.uk
Visit: http://www.crin.org/violence/search/closeup.asp?infoID=6735
To read Save the Children's 2003 report, "Britain's Poorest Children: Severe and persistent poverty and social exclusion", visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=3616
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- SCOTLAND: Children's Commissioner Consultation Paper [call for participation]
Scotland's Commissioner for Children and Young People (SCCYP!) recently launched a Policy Priority Consultation Paper. This paper is asking organisations working with/for children and young people to help shape the policy priorities of Scotland's Commissioner for Children and Young People for the next two years.
The consultation, which runs alongside a similar one aimed specifically at children and young people, is asking organisations such as local authorities, health and housing agencies and voluntary groups to prioritise one of three themes:
Theme 1: Promoting Proportionate Protection
Balancing protection, fun, adventure and healthy relationships
Theme 2: Improving Family Support
Making sure that children, young people and families get real and effective support
Theme 3: Promoting Social Inclusion
Highlighting the challenges faced by marginalised groups and seeking improvement
While SCCYP! will be working on each of these themes, the one given most priority will attract extra resources.
The Commissioner, Kathleen Marshall, said: "In the next couple of years the team at SCCYP! will be looking to make real concrete changes to try and improve the lives of young people in Scotland. We have already asked the young people themselves what they would like to change but think it is also important to get the views of organisations who work with them every day."
"We have identified broad themes to allow flexibility. We want to be clear about our aims, but creative in our response, taking account of what others are doing and taking advantage of unexpected opportunities that might advance our agenda. Once a theme is selected, we will start our work on it by mapping out what others are doing and identifying particular pieces of work to focus on. This will enable us to draw up a more detailed plan of action."
The Paper is aimed at organisations working for and with children and young people in Scotland. This also includes UK organisations which have a Scottish as well as a UK wide focus.
Closing date for responses: 31 January 2006
For more information, contact:
Gillian Munro, Information Officer
Scotland's Commissioner for Children and Young People (SCCYP!)
85 Holyrood Road, Edinburgh EH8 8AU, Scotland, UK
Tel: + 44 (0)131 558 3733; Fax: + 44 (0)131 556 3378
Website: http://www.sccyp.org.uk
To read the Consultation Paper, visit:
http://www.sccyp.org.uk/webpages/policy_priority_consultation.php
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- INTERNATIONAL DAY AGAINST SLAVERY: Annan Calls for 'zero tolerance' [news]
[2 December 2005] - Despite centuries of struggle, slavery has not been completely eradicated from the world and those responsible must be held accountable by international means if necessary, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in a message marking the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery.
"Let us reiterate our conviction that human dignity is at the heart of the work of the United Nations, and that ensuring full respect for the human being requires zero tolerance for slavery," he declared.
"Many forms of slavery persist, including forced and bonded labour, child labour and slavery for ritual or religious purposes. The world is also now wrestling with a new form of slavery - trafficking in human beings, in which many vulnerable people are virtually abandoned by legal and social systems into a sordid realm of exploitation and abuse," he added.
"People who perpetrate, condone or facilitate slavery or slavery-like practices must be held accountable by national and, if necessary, international means. The international community must also do more to combat poverty, social exclusion, illiteracy, ignorance and discrimination, which increase vulnerability and are part of the underlying context for this scourge."
Mr. Annan called on all states to ratify and implement existing UN treaties and additional protocols aimed preventing such practices as trafficking in persons, especially women and children, and punishing those responsible as well as to contribute generously to the UN Voluntary Trust Fund on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, which aids victims.
Visit: http://www.crin.org/violence/search/closeup.asp?infoID=6738
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- WEBSITE OF THE WEEK (erratum): Military Training for Officers on Children in Armed Conflict [resource]
In CRINMAIL 734, sent out on 29th November, we forgot to include the URL of the microsite we advertised on "Military Training for Officers on Children in Armed Conflict". This microsite summarises the key rules for the protection of children in situations of armed conflict which should guide the actions of officers of national armed forces and the soldiers under their command.
URL: http://www.crisisstates.com/associated/Kuper/index.html
For more information, contact:
Jenny Kuper: [email protected]
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